Covid-19

• June 15, 2020

Already struggling with a surging Covid-19 pandemic, United Nations health agencies must now face the possible abdication of the United States’ leading role in fighting polio — just as the world gets tantalizingly close to eradicating it for good. Polio-free since 1979, the US has historically made combating the infectious disease its top funding …

Covid-19, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

In Latin America, Panama Battles the Coronavirus Between Two Oceans

Isabel Saint Malo

• June 11, 2020

PANAMA CITY, Panama — March 2 marked the beginning of the school year in Panama, when about a million students, a quarter of the population, headed for school. One week had passed when the first Covid-19 case was reported, a national emergency was declared and full lockdown began. My husband and I live with …

Covid-19, Latin America, SDGs

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COVID-19

Biden’s Toughest Task: Linking Foreign Policy to a Changed America

Barbara Crossette

• June 10, 2020

With Joseph Biden taking an unassailable lead by June 7 as the Democratic Party’s choice for president of the United States, many Americans foresee a desperate, ugly political campaign for re-election by Donald Trump coming. The magnitude of his damage to America’s role in the world will be an issue for Democrats, along with …

Covid-19, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

The UN Must March for Justice and Racial Equality

Mona Ali Khalil

• June 9, 2020

As the world knows, George Floyd, a black man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a store in Minneapolis, Minn., was killed on May 25 by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Chauvin had pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, despite Floyd being handcuffed and on …

Covid-19, Human Rights, Secretary-General

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COVID-19

The IAEA Voices ‘Serious Concern’ Over Blocked Access to Certain Iranian Sites

Stephanie Liechtenstein

• June 8, 2020

VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency issued an alarming report on June 5, voicing “serious concern” over Iran’s refusal to allow the agency’s inspectors to investigate two sites where the country is suspected of having conducted undeclared nuclear activities in the past. The report is unrelated to the agency’s quarterly updates on Iran’s …

Covid-19, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

The Coronavirus vs. Multilateralism: Who Will Win?

Harris Gleckman and Georgios Kostakos

• June 4, 2020

Covid-19 has pretty much shut down important negotiations at the United Nations, ranging from climate change to biodiversity. The General Assembly has not been able to meet as a group physically, but Security Council meetings have migrated online, with the Secretariat supporting the Council remotely and Secretary-General António Guterres and his people holding the …

Covid-19

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COVID-19

As Protests Sweep the US, the UN Tweets Platitudes

Dulcie Leimbach

• June 3, 2020

In New York City, protesters swarm the roadway portion of the Brooklyn Bridge, heading from the City Hall area of lower Manhattan into Brooklyn. The crowd stopped incoming traffic, but there was no violence, May 30, 2020. JOHN PENNEY Amid curfews in New York City, constant marches and protests, sirens from the streets and …

Covid-19, General Assembly, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council

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COVID-19

Trump Quits the World Health Organization. The Victim Is the United States.

Barbara Crossette

• May 29, 2020

Two weeks after President Trump fired off a characteristically intemperate letter to the director-general of the World Health Organization, accusing him of incompetence in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, the reputation of the agency has been damaged far less than the image of the United States. That is, to judge by the reaction of global …

Covid-19, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

Global Emergency Funds Must Not Be Pocketed for Corruption

Frank Vogl

• May 28, 2020

Fears abound as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the poorer nations of the world, not only about appalling levels of death and economic depression but also about criminal opportunism. Never before have agencies in the United Nations system, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other official lenders and aid agencies moved on …

Covid-19

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COVID-19

Pulling Peacekeepers From Darfur Will Be a Murderous Mistake

Niemat Ahmadi

• May 27, 2020

The world plans to withdraw peacekeepers from Darfur by the end of this year. Without an alternative in place, this premature departure is a disaster in the making for the millions of Darfuris it will leave behind. While the West weighs the best ways to protect civilians going forward, I and millions of Darfuris …

Africa, Covid-19, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping

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COVID-19

Never Underestimate the Grit of Malawians to Survive the Coronavirus

Antonio Menendez de Zubillaga

• May 25, 2020

LILONGWE, Malawi — Ever since an expatriate tourism adviser labeled Malawi the “warm heart of Africa” in the 1970s, Malawians have worn the title proudly, sparing no effort to welcome visitors with open arms. My family and I felt immediately at home here in Lilongwe, the capital. We arrived in April 2018, as part …

Africa, Covid-19

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COVID-19

Robbed of Their Island in the Indian Ocean, Chagossians Linger in a Pandemic-Shadowed Limbo

Stéphanie Fillion

• May 21, 2020

Exactly one year ago, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Britain to return the Chagos Archipelago, a cluster of islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, an island-nation off the southeast coast of Africa. The resolution endorsed an International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion that had been …

Africa, Covid-19, General Assembly, US Foreign Relations

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COVID-19

The US Plans to Prolong the Iran Arms Ban Through the UN, Where It Has Few Friends

Dulcie Leimbach

• May 20, 2020

The Trump administration may be bound and determined to extend a tight global arms embargo on Iran, but it still can’t send a straight message about how it will do so through the United Nations Security Council. The embargo, embedded in a Council resolution endorsing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, expires in October. While …

Covid-19, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

As the US Slams the WHO, It Is Giving Millions to Another UN Agency to Fight Covid-19

Stephanie Liechtenstein

• May 19, 2020

On April 14, the US Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna issued a press release declaring that the State Department had contributed $11 million to a project fighting Covid-19 by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. The donation was mentioned by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a press briefing on May 6. …

Covid-19, Health and Population, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

The UN’s Top Doc Checks Out to Return to Australia: Our Latest Podcast Episode

Stéphanie Fillion and Kacie Candela

• May 18, 2020

Dr. Jillann Farmer managed her share of crises as the United Nations medical director since 2012, including the Ebola outbreak in 2014 in West Africa and the Syrian chemical attacks that occurred soon after that epidemic. In February, Dr. Farmer decided she was ready to move to a new job after more than seven years …